Controversy

Burger King learned the hard way that having the Queen of R&B sing about a chicken rap leads to backlash from the public. Unfortunately, Mary J. Blige also heard the outcry loud and clear. During the whole Chickengate fiasco MJB remained relatively quiet, except the statement claiming BK released an unfinished version of the commercial, which she said wasn’t anything like the idea the franchise restaurant pitched to her. MJB visited Hot 97 to discuss the commercial for the first time since the incident. Mary J. Blige says her feelings were hurt by the backlash and by the so-called friends who also had negative things to say. Read more…

Nas is unapologetically honest about what he’s experienced in his life. His music explores the good, bad and ugly. After much controversy over the details he disclosed in “Daughters,” the video has arrived. It’s chill and mellow like the soulful track. The third single from his forthcoming album Life Is Good gives a small glimpse into Nas’ private life as a father. Directed by Chris Robinson, the video begins with the birth of Nas’ daughter Destiny. Although an actress plays her role, Destiny makes a cameo at the end proving everything is all good with her and pops. Read more…

UPDATE (10:48 p.m.): See below for The Fray’s response to this controversy from their official Twitter page!

If you’re a “Grammy-nominated and internationally acclaimed world touring band,” the decision whether or not to accept an offer to perform the National Anthem is fraught with landmines. On one hand, the decision would seemingly be a no-brainer: Who wouldn’t want to honor their country AND perform for tens of millions of fans at once? On the other hand, though, even if you turn in a great performance, people will almost certainly compare your version unfavorably to the likes of Whitney Houston and Marvin Gaye. But if you should perform it, say, less than awesomely, people will never forgive you (see: Cyndi Lauper at this year’s U.S. Open).

Now that we have set the table, it’s time to share with you the following (low quality) video of The Fray‘s performance of “The Star Spangled Banner” at tonight’s NCAA Men’s Basketball championship game (if we find better video, we’ll swap this version out). Their take on the National Anthem is perhaps most fairly described as an untraditional one, one that featured some boldly unique instrumentation (in the form of a tambourine, possibly a snare drum, and a couple of acoustic guitars) and a new, rhythmic way of delivering Francis Scott Key‘s lyrics. A quick check of Twitter shows the negative responses outweighing the positive, but we want to hear what it is that YOU think about The Fray’s version of “The Star-Spangled Banner”:

Cee Lo Green rang in the New Year on Saturday night in controversial fashion, stirring up John Lennon fans by changing the words to the late Beatles‘ iconic song, “Imagine.” On stage at Times Square on New Year’s Eve, instead of singing the original, “Imagine there’s no countries / It isn’t hard to do / Nothing to kill or die for / And no religion too,” Cee Lo decided to change the last stanza to, “And all religion’s true.” Not only did Cee Lo take it upon himself to essentially change the whole meaning of the song — which envisages a world without any borders, including race, sex and religion, that relies on common humanity to bind people — he also did so wearing a lavish fur coat and sunglasses, which only added to the vitriol Cee Lo received.

Fans took to Twitter to vent their frustration; @ElayneBoosler Tweeted, “If Cee Lo Green is going to sing ‘nothing 2 kill or die 4′, he shouldn’t b wearing FUR when he does. Shallow asshat. #tailsofjoy,” while @Ash_Brew wrote, “John Lennon is turning over in his grave as Cee Lo Green butchers ‘Imagine’ in Times Square,” and @Franky_1189 said, “Thanks Cee Lo Green, you just destroyed an amazing song and ended 2011 on a horrible note. Literally. #imagine.” Cee Lo allegedly Tweeted an apology, “Yo I meant no disrespect by changing the lyric guys! I was trying to say a world were u could believe what u wanted that’s all,” however the remorseful Tweet appears to have been since taken down and replaced with a simple “Happy new year everyone!!!!!!”

In advance of three shows this weekend at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Rihanna came to nearby Bangor to film a video for her new single “We Found Love”?and ended up running afoul of the farmer and local politician on whose land she was filming. The Sunday shoot for the single, produced by her Belfast opener Calvin Harris, drew hundreds of fans, and not a few paparazzi. Apparently, most of the filming was on public land, but a brief sequence was filmed on land owned by Alan Graham. In an interview with Nuala McCann of BBC News, Graham explained that while he didn’t object to Rihanna’s outfit, as seen in candid photographs of the more public part of the shoot, the sequence filmed on his land got “inappropriate”?so he requested that the shoot relocate. Billboard cites unnamed Irish and British news reports in stating that at one point the singer was topless, though it’s unclear whether Graham witnessed a bit of the video or a between-scenes costume change when he happened to be fetching his tractor near the shoot. Whatever he saw, we’re betting paparazzi wish they’d seen too?which is probably why the shoot moved away from the road in the first place.